More than half of applicants miss out on Olympic tickets

More than half of sports fans who applied for tickets to next year's Olympic Games have been unsuccessful, it was reported.

About 1.8 million people made 20 million bids for the 6.6 million tickets available.Some 55% of applicants missed out completely in the public ballot, BBC London has reported.

Those who were unlucky will get priority in the next release of tickets. There are no tickets remaining for the opening and closing ceremonies, or the athletics finals, however.

A London 2012 spokesman would not comment on the figures reported by the BBC, but said: "We understand people's disappointment, but those who have been unsuccessful in the first round will get first choice in the second round sales which will come later this month.

"Hundreds of thousands of great tickets are still available, everything from athletics to basketball, hockey and volleyball."

Those who were successful in some bids for tickets, not all, will be next in line in the second round of sales.

More than 50% of the 650 sessions up for grabs were over-subscribed and triggered a computerised ballot.

Some events were much more popular than others, with the ballot for the men's 100m final having to be run five times.